CAPTAIN MORGAN’S COTTAGE HACK

Captain Morgan is promoting its white rum and new flavours Coconut and Pineapple in a campaign that speaks to the Canadian summer experience.

In a new TV spot, created by Trevor//Peter, a group of guys and girls are having drinks on a dock. They’ve developed the ultimate cottage hack: an ice machine crafted from an eavestrough that delivers ice from the house right to the dock.

The idea was to bring Captain’s playful “pirate spirit” to life and show how people can make the most of Canada’s short summer, said Andrew Knight, marketing director rum, and director of strategy, insights and culture at Diageo Canada.

“People are enjoying a Canadian cottage setting and they just don’t want to leave that sun because they know they’re not going to get a lot of it,” he added. “So they crafted an ingenious way to make sure they can soak every last drop of the summer—and as we call it—seize the summer.”

The campaign targets 19- to 24-year-old consumers, male and female. “From an economic standpoint, it’s tough [for them] to get jobs, so they have to find fun in creative and interesting ways because they don’t have as much disposable income,” said Knight. “What we’re seeing is the at-home drinking occasion is becoming more important to our 19- to 24-year-old drinkers. So in a true Captain Morgan way, we wanted to give a fun setting that is highly relatable.”

Knight added that Diageo Canada made a distinct point in not picking up the U.S. creative, which showed sandy white beaches and palm trees—things that are typically associated with the Caribbean and rum.

“We wanted to make sure that this was hyper-relevant for Canadians,” he said. “The quintessential summer vacation for Canadians is the cottage and sitting on a dock… And then we added [the brand’s] sense of fun, irreverence and ingenuity.”

A sampling program is running in stores across the country, handled by experiential agency Vibrant Marketing.

Captain Morgan will also be engaging followers through social media using its#LikeACaptainhashtag.

The national campaign runs until August. Carat Canada handled the media buy.